Beat defending champs early

Entering the tournament as the No. 11 seed, CSU knocked off defending national champion Virginia Tech Club in the opening round, beat No. 3 seed UCSB in the quarterfinals and then topped No. 2 Lindenwood in the semifinals.

CSU goalie Annette Greenberg made 10 saves playing behind CSU's pressure zone defense and the Rams held Cal Poly to just one goal in the final 38 minutes of the game. Greenberg was named the tournament's outstanding goalie.

Cal Poly led 3-1 early after Ashley Royer scored back-to-back goals, but the Rams scored the final three goals of the first half, taking a 4-3 lead on Maddie Garcia's tally with just 30 seconds left in the half.

Overcame early lead by Cal Poly

Jacki Cella's second goal of the game gave CSU a 5-3 lead just three and a half minutes into the second half, but Cal Poly answered quickly on Stacy Patch's second goal to cut the lead to 5-4 with 25:09 to play.

Both defenses took over from there, allowing few good shots. Katie Nepil finally scored with 10:21 to give CSU a 6-4 lead and Greenberg shut out the Mustangs the rest of the way.

Cinderella run

The victory capped a Cinderella run for Colorado State, which entered the tournament as the No. 11 seed. CSU knocked off defending national champion Virginia Tech Club in the opening round, beat No. 3 seed UCSB in the quarterfinals and then topped No. 2 Lindenwood in the semifinals.

CSU's defense gave up just 23 goals in four tournament games.

'We weren't expecting it'

"This was really exciting to win because we weren't expecting it," said CSU senior Kristen Kasney, whose first half goal tied the game at 3-3. "We were ranked really low to start off it and we just came into it saying let's have fun and we did. It's a way better feeling to work all the way up."